Chapter 65
Rain didn’t see any monster. But Sylphy did, and she immediately notified him by having a blue screen appearing in front of him, defining the monster that was hiding within the thick green.
[Bellion Type: Plant]
A plant type monster with a bell-shaped body suddenly appeared out of the bushes. It has a gaping with red lips and shark-like sharp teeth. The moment it sighted Rain, suddenly sharp vines shot out from its body, shooting towards him.
Rain’s body flickered, and he disappeared.
[Blink], a short-distance teleportation was invoked.
The monster tilted its bell-shaped massive head in wonder as its target suddenly disappeared.
However, before it could react, Rain appeared just beside it. His dagger flashing with azure light, as he swung it with a cold look on his face. The plant monster reacted by instinct, one of the vines shot out to counter, but Rain’s speed was beyond it, and with a slight tilt of his head, the sharp vine just brushed past his cheek.
Only an inch away from his face, but Rain was able to dodge it by hair’s breadth and stab the monster with his dagger. Once…twice…trice, his hand seemed to have blurred into many afterimages as he stabs the Bellion plant with incredible speed and agility.
Being attacked the Bellion plant monster became furious, charging towards him while making weird noises, then using sharp tentacle-like vines to whip at him. Rain’s figure once again flickered, causing the sharp vines to miss their target.
One of the skills that Rain treated as an incredible find was the [Blink] skill. A skill that he had obtained after consuming a ferret-kind of monster called [Assassinate Moose] which was like a ninja+assassin hybrid.
It was a rare monster that Lafetti had found accidentally and killed. When he obtained it, it was an ability that can let him teleport within a meter range. However, as the ability leveled up, his teleporting range has now increased to five meters. It was his long-awaited teleportation skill.
Apart from Magic, teleportation skill is one of the skills he so wanted to have. Well, not only him but most people would actually dream of having teleportation ability, wouldn’t it?
When Rain reappeared, the Bellion Plant immediately charged forward fiercely, furious, and enraged. It shot out dozens of sharp tentacles lunging towards him. He easily dodged, however, and another stab landing on the bell-shaped body of the monster, splattering green blood. The monster cried. But he didn’t even stop and chased at it, this time taking the initiative.
He took a step forward, a series of blade strikes landing on the currently unable to move the body of the Bellion Plant. Then, with [Enhanced Leg Strength] kicked the monster away.
Even though the Bellion Plant is a Lv2 monster according to Syphly’s evaluation, and was as strong as an ordinary Troll, it doesn’t pose any danger to him anymore. Despite his lower level, his dozen skills and inflated attributes had compensated for what he lacks.
[Master, another group of monsters incoming… it’s better to finish the Bellion as soon as possible!]
Syphy’s voice suddenly cried out inside his mind.
Rain somersaulted in the sky, his eyes narrowed dangerously. Root spikes that look like his bone spikes shot from the ground he was standing. Then, suddenly reflected in his retina were thin strands of golden plasma.
“Happy Merry Christmas,”
Electric sparks danced around his hand, and he called out; “Lightning Bolt!”
A bolt of golden lightning shot out from his hand, striking the Bellion, causing the monster to let out a piercing shriek. The might of his Lightning Bolt had already exceeded its original the moment it had reached the 3rd level. Even a Lv2 monster can’t live after being hit by it.
Sizzling smoke came out from its body as the Bellion’s eyes under its mouth turned white, falling down on the ground.
Plant monsters a good material for Alchemy. Rain thought as he landed on the ground, but a goblin came rushing towards him from the side. The small child-sized monster that only reaches up to his waist, with a fierce and ugly expression came running towards him with a loud cry.
Rain didn't panic, however, as he kicked the ground, and instead of retreating, his figure charged towards it. With a blue dagger in his hand, he rotated the dagger with his finger and held it in a reverse knife-grip.
Claaang!!
The knife and the goblin’s short sword clashed, creating a metallic sound. The Goblin let out a startled cry but before it could recover, Rain twists his waist mid-air and his leg kicked the goblin’s chest. The powerful leg strength boosted by the skill [Enhanced Leg Strength] caused the goblin’s chest armor to crack and break into pieces, and even the chest of the poor monster caved in, clearly, its ribs were broken.
But Rain’s fight didn’t end yet, as the moment he kicked the goblin’s his body disappeared in thin air, invoking the [Blink] skill. And in his former position, dozens of crude arrows struck the ground.
“Gi~iii!!”
Goblins and Hobgoblins came out from the bushes. They were surrounding him, and each of them wore quite good equipment of mere goblins. Though, only leather and tattered short sword. Nevertheless, from the goblins he had seen and read in modern Earth’s literature, these goblins certainly do look wealthier and well-equipped.
“Hella, fella’s, whoa!” Rain tried to talk with them but only a volley of arrows and spears came flying at him. With an annoyed look, he jumped in the air.
“Hold on! Don’ cha wanna hear my terms?! This is the Lamian’s territory fella’s, and you’re in the wrong place to start a war,”
“Gii~~ Giyaaa!!” (Kill him!!)
Ran rolled his eyes after hearing their responses. As expected, Goblins had Goblin heads, even worse than a chicken.
Do they even understand what it means to trespass someone’s territory? Although the Lamians are strong, they had never used those strength of theirs to attack the other tribes, less in worry of turning the Desolate Cave into chaos. They respected other race's territory. As trespassing another race's territory means declaring war on that particular race.
But these idiots wanted for it to happen…?
The Goblins appearing here was, as if itself, a declaration of war if ever Zarda would know of this.
“Fine… might as well, prepare yourself,” he snorted coldly.
[Still, having troubles with excessive popularity, Master?]
Sylphy said with a playful tone.
“I’d rather trash my popularity if only this kind of fuglies would come to me, thank you,”
Rain sighs bitterly as he stood at the top of the branch, looking down at the gathered monsters. There were at least twenty monsters here, most Goblins.
“Well, this could be a good opportunity,” he muttered as he took out his phone, press the camera icon, and snap a picture of the growling, and crying monsters underneath the tree. Several goblin archers started knocking arrows on their bows and shooting at him, but they are crude and slow.
“That’s a good souvenir,” he then pocketed the phone, and once again disappeared, dodging the incoming projectiles.
“Let’s do this,” he reappeared on the ground, with arms spread open.
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His eyes were open, glaring at the gathered monsters that were now rushing towards him, with renewed ferocity and murderous intention. However, despite this, he was not processing the scenery of danger that was unfolding before him.
All his senses were on his surrounding, in contact with everything that might be considered part of the weather.
“In the first place, Rain, do you even know where magic power comes from?”
Threia had once asked him about that. Rain answered with the usual, cliché reply; ‘It came from the world…the surrounding,’ but the answer he affirmation coming from her didn’t come. Threia smiled in amusement and said… 'what you said is the Mana coming from all around us. It’s the energy birthed by the world. It’s not Magic Power—you can only call it Magic Power the moment the mana entered inside you, refined by you and made it your own so that you can use Magic.”
“In addition, the Magic Power stays within your blood, fuelling your every action, and strength. That’s what we call the Mana Circulation—like the air we breathe. We also inhale Mana, and circulate it in our system.”
“Blood?”
“Yes, every living organism has blood, and according to theory, it gives a living being life. That is the source of magic.”
“Oh.”
“That’s why you focus on the flow of your blood in your veins when concentrating magic power.”
“The flow of blood?”
“Hm, let it circulate in your body smoothly and calmly, like how your blood flows. Make it your own, your very own control. See, look closely.”
Saying so, Threia showed him his hand. Something like blue smoke gushed forth from her palm. It gradually assumed shape until it was a sphere in her hand.
“That’s magic power.”
“Wow. So it’s something this visible?”
“Well, it takes a lot of training to make it visible like this. I focused on the flow and imagined it gathering in my hand.”
“Imagine, huh.”
“Magic is the power to imagine. And also the power of flow. A flow of magic power is currently circulating inside this sphere like blood.”
“Sounds a bit complicated, but I get the gist of it. Anyway, it wouldn’t be wrong to say blood flow = magic power, right?”
“Hm, besides, though you are already capable of chantless invocation, your power is too strong for the current you. Why don’t you try making a chant to solidify an image? Although using chantless invocation along with imagination magic is much better and faster than chanting spells, but as it was considered an ancient technique in the current era, it too has several disadvantages compared to the ones that the human mages in this current generation use. Whatever reason they have for such fixed pattern methods of magic, the human mages have generated such ways to developed and improved the old ways. One of such is chanting spells to manifest magic,” she said. “It makes things easier and much more efficient in terms of mana consumption,”
“Well, I certainly do get tired after using magic too much. And just casting a single spell felt as if I'm drained already,”
“Yeah, that’s why among human mages, chantless invocation is treated as a higher rank skill. Only a few and those who could be considered elites can use such a technique. The Mana required to use it is incredible. As a human being with limited mana capacity unlike magic beasts, it’s a skill that is quite gluttonous and inefficient,” Threia said with a wry smile.
“I actually wonder why human mages continued using chanting spells to cast magic. But to think there was such reason,”
“Well, humans were able to stabilize their position in this world despite them being one of the weakest races among the Major Species found in the continent. Of course, they are not something to be easily underestimated. They have their own wisdom to thank for that.”
“… So you want me to start, at the very basic and started chanting invocation, then?”
Threia laughed. “Hm, that’s right. Although your Mana Veins had already surpassed that of humanity and were almost similar to an innate Magic Beast, but as for the current you, your power is still too strong for you to control it. If you really want to use Magic, you can start by doing that,”
Rain recalled his training with Threia. He felt his mana flow through his veins.
That’s why they call it, the Mana Veins… all because the Magic flows through the blood.
“The wrath of wind,” he said, feeling a jolt in his chest, and the charging monsters shook with a sudden gust of violent wind, causing them to stagger back. Rain’s eyes shone, and he then noticed how his feet were not in contact with the ground. As usual, he had reflexively caused the winds to lift him up a foot or two, and hold him at a hover.
Crackle! Crackle!
Lightning sparks surrounded his body, especially his arms spread wide.
The ground shook!
The trembling in the ground grew more and more intense, and the air became hotter and hotter and more and more berserk. Even the Goblins that were charging towards him, was blown back by the strong and violent gust of wind that struck them, making them retreat. But this was inevitable.
Rain's face was grinning coldly, and with an icy cold voice, he muttered; “…channel my rage, veil by haze, the wind shriek, the sky may break; [Lightning Bolt]!”
Crackle! Boooom!!
The energy of light and heat was released all at once. Then came the thunder. As the rumbling noise started up, lightning descended from the sky.
However--
What the?
I’m getting an unsettling feeling inside my body again.
Suddenly something seemed to feel wrong, and Rain’s face immediately paled.
It’s hot…it’s practically…as if my body is rejecting something…
An enormous golden lightning bolt appeared out of the blue sky, striking the entire area with violent wrath.
Faced with the wave of thunder and lightning swarming him like a turbulent flow, “What the hell?!!!” Rain’s figure was blasted away.
Guha—?!
His feet left the ground as his body was cut and sliced in midair along with the dirt. The next thing his eyes saw was the blinding golden light that had exploded in front of him. Blood shot out of his mouth. His hair stands upright while smoke came out from his body.
BOOOOOM!!!
The explosion hit Rain with bone-shattering force. The shock of the impact traveled through his armor, and even almost cause his pried armor made by Miyabila to crack from sheer impact. He was then launched into the air, his eyes open to the brink.
Crack!
The enormous ancient tree that he had crashed into broke off.
[Master, are you alright?]
“Goddamit! How the hell is this supposed to work?!”
Rain cried out in anger and frustration as he slaps away the enormous tree trunk that was pressing against him.
When the dust and dirt thinned down, he could be seen haggard and bloody, almost half of his face was dyed with his own blood. Sizzling smoke came out from his body. If not for his resistance to heat and fire, as well as the armor’s incredible defense and elemental resistance, he would surely become roasted human because of his own magic.
“I already tried to reduce my magic power to the most sufficient minimum, but how the hell did it once again break through the safety threshold?” he gnashed his teeth in annoyance.
He was almost killed by his own magic, goddammit!
If not for the abilities [Menace] and [Alertness] immediately alarmed him from danger, causing him to react almost immediately and jump away, as well as [Lesser Vitality] that had passively enhanced his vitality and life force by a significant amount, [Bark Skin], [ Courage ], [Toughness], [Reflect Damage], and [Earth’s Blessing], that increased his defenses. And lastly, [Luck]. With all of these abilities, he was able to save himself from receiving a fatal wound.
However…
This is this, and that is that…!
It was fucking painful!!
“What the hell did I do wrong?! Isn’t the strength of my magic now even more powerful and out of control than before?!”
Despite the less consumption of his magic power after using an embarrassing chant, the power of his magic was clearly above that of his previous magic attack. If he had tried this before inside the village, even with Threia and Zarda’s protection, he might really hurt other people.
Why the hell is this happening to him?
Why is his magic so hard to use, and out of control?!
It’s as if there was something inside of him that doesn’t obey his will, and forcibly raise the magic power he had wanted at the very last minute, and burst it all out in an instant. Thinking about it, suddenly Rain’s brows furrowed.
“This is just a guess, Rain but although this is hard to accept. However, I think your magic has its own consciousness.”
Threia’s voice resounded within his head.
It was when Threia was teaching him how to control it, a few weeks ago.
“Consciousness? Magic? What does that mean?”
“It means what I say, Rain… though, it’s hard to believe. Your magic has its own will, consciousness, personality…like a beast, it’s unbridled and difficult to control.”
“Is that even possible?”
Zarda asked, somewhat curious as well. Though, she doesn’t seem to be that surprised, just a bit doubtful. It seems like she already birthed some suspicions as well.
Treia shook her head. “I don’t know. And this is just mere speculation of mine. In the first place, Rain’s Magic [Weather Magic] doesn’t exist in this world--”
“…?!!”
“What?!”
Rain and Zarda’s eyes widened in shock.
Threia let out a sigh; “There is something similar to it, but not specifically the magic to control the weather. "
"... ..."
"It certainly is in the Chaos Type category of Magic, and there are indeed many unknown aspects of the Chaos Affinity. However, most records of it are not one that is obtained by people, much less, humans are mortals. You should know this; Chaos Affinity was possessed only by Legendary Creatures such as Dragons, up until now. And even in the record and ancient text, there is no record of any Magic that is similar to what Rain has… the power to control the weather of the world. In fact, that by itself is already in the realms of the Gods.”
“But the Magic is real. And Rain can use it.”
“I don’t doubt it. However, Zarda, you didn’t forget, did you? The Magic of this world is divided variously, and there were even known as Variants. However, even the strangest variants were divided into certain Attributes. First off, the fundamental Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, and Darkness. But [Weather Magic] is different. Although it possesses similar aspects of the elementals, there was still something within it that doesn’t derive from the six basic elementals—something mysterious, something ancient…well, this is still a hypothesis. However, it has the same nature of the Lost Magic in the Ancient Times written in records—one that is basically said to be the element of the world’s core!”
“The Gods? And it can also be considered a new Magic. That I can somehow believe… but what does it mean being able to have its own will…?” Zarda asked.
“I don’t know…I’m not certain about it actually, but that’s what I feel. Today, when Rain is using magic, he was able to control at first with a control that even put archmages to shame. However, when it was about to be completed, it’s as something occurred, as if it wanted to break free like a wild beast wanted to get out from its shackles. And this caused Rain’s control to be disturbed…”